Ethical Considerations on Affective Computing: An Overview

Affective computing develops systems, which recognize or influence aspects of human life related to emotion, including feelings and attitudes. Significant potential for both good and harm makes it ethically sensitive, and trying to strike sound balances is challenging. Common images of the issues invite oversimplification and offer a limited understanding of the moral consequences and ethical tensions. Considering the state-of-the-art shows how pervasive and complex they are. In many areas, the discipline can potentially bring ethically significant benefits and hence has a duty to try. They include making interactions with machines more effective and less stressful, diagnostic and therapeutic roles in emotion-related disorders, intelligent tutoring, and reducing isolation. However, the limits of recognition technology mean that actions are likely to be based on impoverished representations of people’s affective state, particularly with certain groups; systems are liable to arouse feelings that are positive, but not well grounded in reality, affectively engaging systems can become addictive and manipulative, and they confer dangerous power on those who control the technology. We offer an overview of those and other particular ethical issues, positive and negative, which arise from the current state of affective computing. It aims to reflect the complexities inherent in both the technology and current ethical discussions. Establishing appropriate responses is a challenge for society as a whole, not only the affective computing community.